Extract01.

[Here's just a little introduction to a short story of mine.

Nothing important really, just thought that some of you might like to read.

Read the entire thing (click to be continued) if you wish.]

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“I’m still reeling from the loss,
still a little bit delirious”
A Fine Frenzy

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ZERO:Begin

“Oh shitshitshit,” she cried, perfectly manicured fingers running through cropped raven hair. She did not need this mess right now, or this splitting headache threatening to make her late for work…or that. She narrowed her almond eyes at the naked back of a young man sprawled next to her—Harry was it? Or Donovan? Jared?—and groaned when another ache rattled her sore brain. Last night was the last time she was going to touch alcohol...or maybe the night after.

“Excuse me,” she snapped, poking the lithe form with a French-tipped nail. “Do you mind me asking you to get out of my bed?”  Her emphasis on the word “my” was clear enough to her, but apparently not to him. The man just moaned and shifted in his slumber. Rolling her eyes, the petite girl tried again.
“To put it in simpler terms, get the fuck out.”

The shape moved and rolled over, gazing at her sleepily through half lidded eyes and she sighed in relief when she noticed familiar green peeking out through long dark lashes. Thank god she wasn’t drunk enough to bring home a complete stranger or even worst—Wait, wasn’t this…?

“Oh shi—“ she clamped her hand over her lips, slightly slanted eyes widened with absolute horror and shock. “You—”
His full lips curled into a smirk. With a yawn, he stretched his arms above his head before placing it behind the curve of his neck, his short hair rustling in the movement. He fixed his eyes on her, muscles rippling beneath his skin.

“Good morning,” his tone was conversational and polite. “Had a good time?”

Lisa felt a blush spread from her cheeks to the tips of her hair as she averted her eyes from the man who used to make her world, his world. She clenched her teeth and tried to think back to last night’s events and how on earth this man from her past wound up tangled in her bed sheets—again.

“Drew,” she murmured softly, his name rolling off her tongue like a foreign word. “H-how did you…? Did we…?” She trailed off, at a loss for words again when he looked at her with another amused expression, her hating the way she was rendered speechless whenever he was around. He said nothing except to study her, study the woman that he hadn’t seen for the last 5 years, with eyes roaming up and down her barely clad body—slightly tanned skin almost glowing in the morning sunlight. Lisa gripped the alabaster sheets with a clenched fist, biting her bottom lip between her teeth to stop herself from crying out with—with what? With happiness, anger, joy, fear and all the tangle of feelings she’d kept locked in a chasm she called her heart; all the feelings that should’ve been long buried ever since he walked away from her back then and left her in a crumpled, broken mess.

Remembering that day hurt and Lisa wasn’t about to let hurt touch her again—not after all she’s done to get over it, to pick herself up again. To get to where she was.

“Get up,” she snapped angrily, throwing her pillow into his face with a satisfied smile when she heard him grunt in annoyance as it hit him with full feathery force. Swinging her long legs across the mattress and onto the wooden floor, she took a few shaky steps (really not having alcohol again) before walking to the door. When she reached the doorway, she spun around, short black locks swinging into her flushed face.

“I don’t know what happened last night and I don’t know how the hell you ended up in my bed but I’ll give you 15 minutes to freshen up, put some damn clothes on and go downstairs before I come back with a baseball bat.” Spinning away from his bemused expression, Lisa walked to the bathroom with as much dignity as a half-dressed woman with a splitting hangover could and slammed the door hard behind her.

She was not going to get distracted by that smile again.
Or the tingles that smile sent down her spine.

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